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About Me

I am a below knee amputee. More importantly, I am also Mommy to two boys, a very active 10 year old (Robby) and an mischievous toddler (Timmy). I have learned that being a parent with a disability can create some unusual and sometimes humorous situations.
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Monday, September 19, 2016

Emotional Weekend

This past weekend was both emotionally and physically exhausting. Saturday afternoon, after watching Robby march in the local parade, I packed up and drove 5 hours to Butler PA. I wish I was leaving for a happy occasion, but my purpose was emotionally driven. My Dad's tombstone was unveiled on Sunday in a solemn graveside event which marked the end of Shiva.

Scott stayed at home with the boys. I quickly realized that traveling to the event by myself only exacerbated the emotions of grief and loneliness. Too much time alone with my own thoughts was definitely not a good thing! My mind began to swirl with bittersweet memories, frustrated thoughts and anger as the drive progressed.

I opted to drive straight to the cemetery to visit with my Dad instead of checking into the hotel and relaxing. I knew that I wasn't supposed to see the stone or visit the grave until the ceremony, but I figured that he would understand. I wanted some quiet time to reflect, outside of the eyes of others.

I'm glad that I saw the headstone before it was officially unveiled, because I'm fairly certain my

reaction was not appropriate for the religious ceremony. Thankfully I knew what to expect and was able to take a preemptive action. I placed my personal touch onto his grave before the unveiling. (Insert cheeky grin.)

Unfortunately the long drive caused a large blister to form in the middle back of my limb. By the time I arrived at the hotel I could barely walk because of the pain. I spent the remainder of the night with my leg off, crawling around the hotel room. (The fact that I opted to crawl around a hotel room floor instead of putting on my leg should serve as an indicator for the amount of pain I was experiencing.) Thankfully by the morning the blister had popped and I was able to slip into my leg with only moderate discomfort.

After the unveiling and lunch I headed home, where I encountered both rain and Steelers traffic. My frustrations reached the pinnacle when Scott called to ask me to swing by the grocery store to pick up toddler formula for Timmy. After spending the day at the cemetery and driving 12 out of the past 30 hours, the last thing I wanted to do was trudge through a grocery store. But I knew that Timmy needed it and I had no option but to make the stop.

I finally rolled into my driveway around 9:00, where Robby met me in the driveway. His hug immediately soothed the pain I was feeling. I'm looking forward to a drama-free, quiet week. Fingers crossed it becomes a reality!